UK house prices grew in March, market now grinding to halt-Nationwide

British house prices rose in March at their fastest annual pace since January 2018 but the market is now grinding to a halt after the government's shutdown of much of the economy, mortgage lender Nationwide said. Prices rose by 3.0% compared with March 2019, Nationwide said, stronger than a median forecast for a rise of 2.0% in a Reuters poll of economists.

"It is important to note that, while we use a full month's worth of data to generate the index, the cut-off point is slightly before the end of the month," Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said. "This means that developments following the UK government's lockdown will not be reflected in these figures." (Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Alex Richardson)